MotoGP: Bradl Leads, Jorge Lorenzo Crashes Out Again

By Cycle News Staff | 7/12/2013 6:27 AM

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo is currently in the medical center at the Sachsenring getting his surgically repaired left shoulder X-rayed after crashing out of another drama-filled practice session today in Germany. On a positive note, the session was led by fan favorite Stefan Bradl in preparation for his home Grand Prix on Sunday.

But the big news centered again on Lorenzo, the defending World Champion having bravely ridden to fifth place two weeks ago in Assen just some 35 hours after undergoing surgery to repair his broken collarbone. Today the factory Yamaha star led the first practice session and was leading the second one when he crashed again at high speed – an incident that brought out the red flag to stop the session. Now there are fears that the titanium plate used in repairing his collarbone two weeks ago has been bent, which could potentially mean more surgery for the Yamaha star.

But the drama didn’t stop when the session resumed with 38 minutes to go as Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow lowsided his M1 at high speed and tumbled violently into the gravel trap. Crutchlow is also being treated in the medical center for a suspected hand injury.

There were more crashes on the day with both factory Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone crashing out of the first practice session this morning. Nicky Hayden joined his Ducati mates with a crash in the afternoon session, though he was up straight away and headed back to the paddock on a scooter.

Bradl made it through both sessions unscathed on his LCR Honda, the young German ending the day with the quickest lap at his home Grand Prix. Bradl’s best was a 1:22.030 and that lap led Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa by .207 of a second.

Pedrosa’s teammate Marc Marquez ended the session third, despite an off-track excursion through the gravel trap in turn one in the waning minutes. Marquez lapped at 1:22.251 - .221 behind Bradl. He bested Lorenzo, who slipped down to fourth after missing half the session.

Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi ended up fifth, .365 of a second behind Bradl and one spot better than his former teammate Hayden, the Ducati rider having survived several near misses before finally crashing near the end of the session.

Then came Power Electronics Aspar ART-mounted Aleix Espargaro, Dovizioso and Go & Fun Honda’s Alvaro Bautista with Iannone rounding out the top 10 on the Energy T.I. Pramac Ducati.

Crutchlow ended up 19th with only four riders improving their times from the first session this morning.